Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at a Xiaomi event in Beijing on Sunday.

Wayne Ma for The Wall Street Journal

The Chinese company, which is planning to expand abroad, paid Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to appear on Sunday in front of reporters at its headquarters in Beijing. Mr. Wozniak showed up at the event–labeled as the “Lei Jun & Woz Tech Talk”–with Xiaomi’s founder and chairman, Lei Jun, and told reporters that Xiaomi’s products were “excellent” and “good enough to crack the American market.”

Mr. Wozniak said he was given Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 3 smartphone to test. He also received a demonstration of Xiaomi’s new Mi Wi-Fi router, which comes in a do-it-yourself kit that requires consumers to assemble the device themselves. Mr. Wozniak was later given the kit as a gift, which comes in an elegant wooden box, with his birthdate engraved on it.

Advertisement

“I’m playing with mine. I like it so far, and I’ll tell you if I have problems,” he told reporters. Mr. Wozniak didn’t disclose how much he was paid for the appearance, but said he only nets 20% of his original fee. In fact, he said that 15% of his fee goes to a co-broker, 12.5% goes to his agent, 37% is paid in U.S. government taxes and 13% goes to California state taxes. “I do not do this for money,” he said. “If I find things I don’t like about the Mi 3, I’ll tell them.”

Xiaomi’s corporate culture and rapid ascent has invited some comparisons to Apple. Like the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Xiaomi’s chairman sports dark shirts and presides over high-profile product releases. As part of efforts to expand overseas,

“A lot of our brain power comes from China,” he said. “We’ve needed these elements that have come from Asia for so long.”

Mr. Wozniak said he noticed that Singapore is changing. “They actually have quite a bit of great hardware development, and so they have very talented people. They have people that are thinking very much like Xiaomi thinks,” he said.

Finally Mr. Wozniak said he “would love to live” in Beijing. “It’s a very comfortable place for Americans … I want to shop in the little stores that are building components and parts, and plugging in phones and reprogramming them. I love that world — it’s certainly where I started.”

Expert Insight

China’s territorial ambitions in the East and South China seas are by now well-documented. Much less understood is one of the key factors in the country’s ability to realize those ambitions: an increasingly well-funded and capable maritime militia.

The U.S. has been urging allies to steer clear of Asia's new China-led infrastructure investment bank. Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, calls that approach mistaken on multiple levels.

Can legal reform and Communist Party control coexist in a way that will benefit Chinese governance and society?This is the question that confronts the country in the wake of its annual legislative gathering.

China's just-concluded legislative sessions seem to be another example of the deinstitutionalization of politics under Xi Jinping. Months from now, these meetings won’t be seen as harbingers of reform, so much as another lost opportunity, writes CRT analyst Russell Moses.

About China Real Time Report

China Real Time Report is a vital resource for an expanding global community trying to keep up with a country changing minute by minute. The site offers quick insight and sharp analysis from the wide network of Dow Jones reporters across Greater China, including Dow Jones Newswires’ specialists and The Wall Street Journal’s award-winning team. It also draws on the insights of commentators close to the hot topic of the day in law, policy, economics and culture. Its editors can be reached at chinarealtime@wsj.com.